This invention relates to an orthopedic surgical shirt for use by a patient; and, more particularly, it relates to an orthopedic shirt for use by a patient who has undergone treatment for an injury, or shoulder surgery that requires post-operative stabilization of the treated shoulder. As is well known, after sustaining an injury, receiving treatment, or undergoing an operation on a shoulder, an arm, other upper body region, a patient is frequently required to wear a hospital gown during a period of recovery. Patients are also frequently required to wear a brace, an abduction pillow, a sling, or a cast to allow an affected upper body region to heal properly. Abduction pillows, braces, casts, slings and other immobilization devices are frequently used after surgery, and are generally referred to herein as upper body immobilization devices.
Hospital gowns generally have openings located on the front, top, or rear of the gown, and utilize ties to secure the gown. A major problem associated with this type of gown is that a patient must maneuver his affected upper body region and/or an upper body immobilization device to pass through a narrow opening in the sleeve of the gown. The necessity of maneuvering the patient's affected upper body region, and/or upper body immobilization device through the sleeve of the hospital gown can result in pain and discomfort to the patient, and can even severely disturb the affected region. The only other alternative is for a patient to tear the side portion of a hospital gown in such a way as to accommodate an upper body immobilization device.
A similar problem results during the latter stages of a post-operative period, e.g. once a patient is outside the hospital. By way of example, a patient who has undergone rotator cuff repair surgery, a shoulder stabilization procedure, or who has had an upper body injury, frequently needs to remove clothing to examine the affected area, to bathe, to dress, or to undress. However, the clothing must generally be removed while wearing an upper body immobilization device. This procedure can cause the patient discomfort since the immobilized body region must frequently be contorted to fit into standard types of garments. Moreover, these immobilization devices often prevent the patient from wearing aesthetically pleasing garments, by way of example, a T-shirt or dress shirt, without risking discomfort, or disruption of a surgical repair. Consequently, a side of a shirt, or similar garment, is frequently torn open to allow for the patient to accommodate the upper body immobilization device, and to allow for the patient to dress or undress.
There are a number of gowns, vests, and other garments known in the art. These devices either immobilize an injured, treated, or surgically corrected area, or simply serve to clothe the patient. These devices frequently feature fasteners located on the top portion of sleeves, and on the front or rear of gowns. A shortcoming of these garments and devices is that they do not accommodate an upper body immobilization device, serve to aesthetically clothe the patient, allow the patient to dress with minimal maneuvering of, or discomfort to an affected body region. Examples of such garments and devices may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,422,186, 4,570,268, 4,787,101, 4,920,578, 5,007,412.
It would be highly desirable to solve the variety of problems enumerated above facing a patient who has undergone rotator cuff repair surgery, a shoulder stabilization treatment, who has an upper body injury, and who requires clothing that will accommodate a upper body immobilization device.
The present invention targets the thousands of patients who undergo orthopedic shoulder surgery worldwide, and serves this market by providing an aesthetically pleasing orthopedic surgical shirt that accommodates a upper body immobilization device and allows a patient to dress with minimal discomfort or movement of an immobilized body region, thereby, decreasing the risk that a patient will disrupt a surgical repair in an attempt to get dressed and undressed.